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I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

I won't send roses...

Hello everyone. I'm so happy to be hosting the challenge at Our Creative Corner for April - I hope you'll find time to see the inspiration offered up by my fantastic team-mates, and to come and play along. But just before we get into that, if you're looking for my Artistic Stamper challenge post from earlier today, just click on the link. Sorry, the 1st of the month is always busy!Back to Our Creative Corner - and this month I'm inviting you to do your creating "With A Song In Your Heart". We'd like to see creations inspired by and including a song title and/or lyrics. I'd like to see the words (either the title or some lyrics or both) appearing on your make, and you also need to let us know in your post the song which has inspired you. In an ideal world it would be lovely if you included a link to the music, so we can listen while we look, but that bit's not compulsory!I started with a song I've loved for years, but it took me by surprise, leading me to quite an unexpected place - pink, and very flowery! And it ended up spreading onto not one but two jumbo size #12 tags, and into another mammoth post - sorry!!And I don't really know if this counts - since clearly I was already making it at the same time, but evidently I was channelling Tim Holtz through the ether... have you seen his glorious April tag yet?! So I'm going to enter these in the 12 Tags, even though they happened before I saw the tutorial! Though I will have a play later in the month anyway... just for fun, and to learn more.

The song, I Won't Send Roses, is from the musical Mack and Mabel. It's about two of the luminaries of the early cinema, Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, and in the song the hard-bitten, cynical, older Mack warns his young star Mabel not to fall for him since he's just not the romantic type, and it'll do her no good.If you click on the name of the song, you can listen as you look.

There are versions with better sound quality, but with the link above you get the added bonus of the genius of ice dancers Torvill and Dean. It's through them that I first discovered the song - initially in their brilliant Mack and Mabel routine in 1982 (still my favourite competitive routine, I think, over the much-lauded Bolero).

In the M&M routine, you hear just one refrain of Roses within the overture, but then Torvill and Dean used the whole song in a fabulous gala performance to close the 1984 Olympics... that's the one I've given you the song link for, just below the main photograph. It still makes me cry, though I've watched it hundreds of times. Utter perfection.

I think one of the things which appeals to me about this song - besides its soaring melody line which is just so beautiful - is the bitter sweet sentiment behind it.It's built on an internal contradiction, and I love that kind of thing!

He tells her he won't send roses... and yet he can see that's what she deserves. And unfortunately, she's already fallen for him big-time, so it's a bit late for a warning, and I think he knows that. The push-pull of that gives their relationship and this song a brilliant dramatic tension.He won't/can't show love, but somewhere deep down he does love her - though he may not even quite recognise it himself. He just knows that she's beautiful with roses around her.

I won't send roses, and roses suit you so.

So clearly there had to be roses. But I also wanted a sense of bleakness, and a touch of decay, revealing the negative side.

Their relationship didn't have a happy ending in real life (or in the musical, strictly speaking), so there are hints of rust, and the spatter of tear drops shed.

Originally, I had everything on the one tag, but it got really crowded - despite the giant 10.5 x 5.125 inch size - especially with the whole line of the lyrics in one go.(The background paper is by UHK Gallery, with some Pumice Stone stencilling through my new favourite stencil, TH's Latticework.)

Once the flowers were on top of the underlying structure, I could barely find anywhere to fit the rusted washers which had been a major part of the original swirl of ideas!It was all just too busy... plus I really didn't want to cover up those bare branches and trellises too much - I really liked them!

Breakthrough time came when I realised that I could just shift the roses across to create a whole other contrasting tag, reflecting that turnaround in the thought in the lyrics.

I had a lovely time playing with the Trellis Frameworks die: the empty frame for those non-existent roses in the first tag...

... and a rusted hint of it underlying the longed-for rose bower in the second.

I created the rusted pieces of trellis with various embossing powders and paints on some thick card, and the wooden branches are actually wooden, altered with some gesso and paint.

I found I needed to add some colour to the very wintry neutrals so that the two tags looked as though they belonged together more. I thought some of my glass pebbles would be a great start, this time with a pinky-red spritzed book page underneath, rather than my usual greeny-blue ones!All the splattering came later.

The two book page butterflies were late additions - beautiful creatures which arrived, ready-distressed, with an order from my fabulous team-mate Linda, a.k.a. the Funkie Junkie.

They seemed to perch perfectly on the wooden branches, adding some dimension to match those huge flowers across the way. And you'll see there are plenty of my rusted washers, now fully visible in all their decaying glory.

For the roses, I gathered up some of the many paper flowers I seem to have accumulated, despite only rarely using them on projects.Clearly there's a deep attraction on some level, which I find hard to admit even to myself... What, me? Girly flowers? And pink? Really?! (Hello, Mack Sennett - here's part of why I understand your levels of self-deception!)

I used lots of gesso and spritzing on them (mainly using the sprays I made up with Luminarte Primary Elements powders, though there are some 13 Arts ones in there too).Some flowers started out a darker colour, rather than white or cream, so they took the inks differently.

I love the colour variation that gives across the whole bouquet.And of course some of them got left as cream or ivory - until the spattering, that is!

There are more of the glass beads nestled in amongst the flowers here - again, a way to tie the two tags together.

The woman from the Tim Holtz Classics #5 set is a regular feature here at Words and Pictures.There's something infinitely flexible about her expression, so she can be sad and cold one moment and warm and content the next, depending on what you feed into her eyes with your own thoughts.

There's a little more rust creeping in at the top, with some rusty wire twined around the feminine softness of the ribbons, as Mack is already twined around Mabel's heart.

So that's the journey this song took me on. I hope you enjoyed it.Regulars at Words and Pictures will know that my creations are quite often triggered by songs (Write a little more often or the recent You Don't Bring Me Flowers for instance), so this is a very natural way to work for me.

I know, however, that it posed a real challenge to some of my team-mates, but they stepped bravely and brilliantly out of their comfort zones - and I absolutely love what they've created as a result. Do check out their beautiful projects, along with all the challenge rules and details, here at Our Creative Corner and I hope you'll be inspired to play With a Song in Your Heart - you might surprise yourself!And don't forget there's a new Artistic Stamper challenge kicking off today too!Words make you think. Music makes you feel. A song makes you feel a thought.
Yip Harburg (song lyricist who wrote, amongst many many others, the lyrics for Somewhere Over the Rainbow, not to mention the rest of the songs in The Wizard of Oz, and Brother, Can You Spare a Dime)I'd like to enter these as my April tags in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2014. I know it's cheeky - but I just can't believe the coincidence - so it's irresistible, I'm afraid!And at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge it's The One With All The Rules a.k.a. Anything Goes.

Roses have always been my favorite flower especially "Blue Moon", so fragrant. Andrew ordered a dozen of these for our flower border in the front garden. Each morning in the summer months as I went out the front door the subtle perfume scent from them was pure heaven. Leaving my garden was so hard.

Love it! I always really love your pink toned creations and this one is the best yet! I must admit I didn't know this song and didn't know the Mack and Mabel musical, but I loved listening to it and want to hear more. Don't know how that one got past me, especially in our family! I need to catch up on my knowledge of musicals obviously! Anyway, I adore this and I think you captured the song perfectly! This is very special. Lots of love from Laura xxx

What an awesome idea to turn your original design into two contrasting and yet deeply connected tags, Alison!

I loved Torvill and Dean too...so thanks for that extra ;)

Those rusted bits work sooo perfectly with the lovely roses and little splashes of rosy colours here and there! There IS decay, but I would rather tend to interpret this as the fact that he has already affected her inner thoughts and feelings and that this feels like being slowly rusted from the inside...crumbling but at the same time becoming part of each other.

I am not that much a fan of musicals, but I am a big fan of these two tags!

I enjoyed your post so much, Alison. It is wonderful that you discovered the crafty world as another way to express your wonderful ability with words, pictures, music, and drama. I love the way you have used the tags to interpret the lyrics in the song, and the ice dancing is another bonus. And on a more prosaic note, I have to have that new frameworks die!

Two magnificent tags with a wonderful story. Pink and flowers to sum it up. What a beautiful surprise. Love those tear drops too and all of the other textures and elements to create these beauties.Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

Beautiful tags Alison, I love how your vision carries through the Mack & Mabel on the the complete creation. It is a delight to see the results. I love your techniques and elements - I love your glass pebbles and the colours and arrangement of the flowers are stunning!!!

Alison,Apologies for not having visited you for some time.The tags aren't simply beautiful, they call the viewer in to have a closer look, is it that soulful look in her eyes that captivate us I wonder.Pretty in pink they may be but with such substance to them.WishesLynne

Oh Alison, I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures and reading the story of how these beautiful tags emerged. I must admit, I did a double take at the two faces and wondered for a minute if they were different stamps - they do seem to have different expressions in the eyes - very clever! I love both of the tags but my favourite has to be the gorgeous rose-adorned one. Margie x

Hello Miss Alison, loooooove this challenge, and the DREAM TEAM back in action,BRAVO. BRAVO, what a performance you created on those tags, I listened to the song 4 times all by different artist Michael Feinstein was my favorite, I remember seeing Torvill and Dean skating to it at those Olympics, BRILLIANT POST Miss Alison, this challenge is really tempting, thanks for all the inspiration, loooooove those glass beads, and when you do color (out of your usual) it's superb... ((( BIG HUGS )))

What a stunning post Alison! You are amazing and I think the challenge theme is brilliant. Will have to come up with a song and some mojo for my project. :) Love the roses and all of the wonderful products by Tim on your beautiful tags. Hugs

These are so incredible stunning! I love the romantic feel they evoke, yet they are still so modern, fresh and original. It is always a joy to see what creative combinations you come up with. You are so talented at putting elements together in the most delightful and stunning ways possible!

Wow Alison , a masterpiece again, this is really stunnning, I love the face a lot (I have it in my collection too) but you make this tag be wonderfull!!I really love all the details , the cracle background , the beautifull flowers , the kind words!! I love it!!!

Both of these tags are gorgeous Alison I love the way you have told the story through the elements you have used. You and Tim were definitly on the same wavelength this month great minds think alike. Mo x

OMG Alison. These are absolutely flippin' brilliant! The contrast, the colours and the whole make up of them. And as for sharing the video of Jayne and Chris - awesome. I even shed a tear as I was and still am in awe of their skating.Thanks Honey for the trip down memory lane.Hugsxx

Love using song titles/lyrics for inspiration, Alison, and your tags here are two wonderful reasons why I do!! Love all the vintage detail surrounding that gorgeous face! Well choreographed, my friend!

Oh wow!!! Two fantastic jumbo tags, the colours are fabulous and all is so delicate on both!! I love love them, also the little roses.. I'm leaving tomorrow Alison, so I will discover all what I've missed in the interval when I go back! :) Have a great end of week, Hugs xxx

Sorry, late commenting. A lovely make, so ingenious to do two tags. I love both! I, too, loved watching Torvill and Dean. Unfortunately, (because of copyrite issues?) I can't watch the video of them performing to this song. Thanks for reminding us about them. You are right about that face stamp, I noticed in another post you did how she can look different from different angles. You have done her justice again!

Wow, these are just beautiful. We love that stamp and have it somewhere so you've inspired us to dig it out and have a play. Your roses are lovely, such a lovely lot of work has gone into these art works.

Wow, Alison, these are tremendous. That is one of my favourite stamps. I love all you've done here - the roses and the rust! I love old movies and musicals too: Rodgers and Hart are my favourite song writing duo; but i'm off to check out this number. If it can inspire tags as sensational as these, I want to hear it! Julie Ann xxx

My first thoughts: pink! girly! flowers! My goodness. I can't believe how you channeled Tim so well. WOW! That's about all I can muster out over these two tags and the story behind them all. For sure it had to be two tags. I love the barren one, awaiting love and roses, when compared to the floral one which is filled with beauty but lacking the love. Excellent!

Holy moly! I'm running late getting around to all the teamies' blogs from the OCC challenge this week, and yours is the first blog I am visiting...you have totally knocked me out with this one, Alison! I absolutely loved it as soon as I saw it, but now reading your whole post with all the details and tying the song into the design - wow! I'm just picking myself up off the floor. Your creations are always sensational, but I have to think that these two might be my favorites yet (and not because I see my sweet vintage butterflies that flew across the pond on one of them, which was definitely a thrill too!). Such a fun challenge this month too.

Holy crapola!!! This was AMAZING! You've swept me off my feet with this post. So tragically romantic and fiercely contrasting in emotions. Absolutely LOVE this...every little bitty bit! The resolve to make two tags is worthy of applause. Such a bitter sweet and sad story and so perfectly depicted by you!Sensational make chica!!hugs,Lisa x

One of my ultimate favourites the song and the tags. Wow Alison these are truky stunning and I love the way you have bought through the sadness as rust but the deep love emotion of the roses. I love love love the way you have rusted your items, I use rusting powder which you really have to plan in advance but you have done it with inks etc, wow I so would love you to do a tutorial on this, especially how on the metal embellishments as well. Your amazing and your artwork is awesome :-) Kezzy xxx

Beyond thrilled to be one of Tim Holtz's

About Me

My name is Alison, and I'm a completely addicted crafter. Although I've done bits and pieces most of my life, this whole world of stashes and challenges and talented, inspirational crafters has blown me away since I discovered it in summer 2012.
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All content on this page, including text, photos and designs are copyright Alison Bomber. They are made available for personal inspiration, but please do not use them for profit or gain by means of publication or contest submissions without written permission. Many thanks.